Across Time and Space
by broken-quill24
Summary: A collection of ideas and short fics taking place throughout the Artemis Fowl universe. Chapter 5: Holly plays with fire...and Artemis gets burned. A/H
1. Better

**Disclaimer: I do not own Artemis Fowl.**

**Hello everyone! I know it's been a long time, and hopefully some of you remember me from my other fics, but I'm back! In order to fend off summer boredom and inspire some ideas for WYWO and 'A Night at the Ivy', I've decided to write a collection of short fics and drabbles (max 1000 words?), as many other authors in this following have done in the past. Thus, I present, 'Across Time and Space,' which shall include scenes from throughout the AF timeline and may or may not be related to my other stories. Our first chapter takes place between TLC and TTP. Enjoy! :D**

**Across Time and Space**

**1**

"_Mooooooooommmmm!"_

Looking up from his book, Artemis scanned the manor's expansive lawn for the cause of the cry, his uneven eyes eventually alighting on Myles and Beckett. From the boy's positions- Beckett prone and Myles standing, chubby arms crossed- it appeared that the latter had pushed the former down.

The twins' elder brother sighed, pushing himself up and out of the reclining patio chair. With Mr. Fowl in Dublin on business and Angeline in the middle of a conference call, the job of watching the two youngest Fowls had been given to Artemis for the afternoon. Initially, Butler had offered his help, but Artemis turned the offer down. While Butler had more experience with children (especially highly intelligent, somewhat insufferable children) Artemis considered the task a manageable one and sent Butler off on some business of his own.

For the most part, the boys had been quiet. In fact, Artemis was pleasantly surprised at how much entertainment the boys could create from the other's company and the outdoors. So far, Artemis had been able to peruse his novel with little to no interruption, and his clothes had maintained their freshly-washed and ironed perfection, despite the boys' affinity for mud pies.

Now, normally, Artemis was against intervention in the socialization processes of his brothers', and in the current situation, would have decidedly left Myles and Beckett alone to 'work it out themselves;' however, Beckett's cries were increasing in volume and Artemis was loath to have his mother's call interrupted due to a failure in his own duties as a fledgling older brother.

"Artemis!" Beckett cried as the teenager made his way across the lawn. "Myles pushed me!"

"No I didn't!" Myles interjected, arms still crossed, then, his face innocent, gazed up at Artemis. "He fell."

Artemis cocked one of his eyebrows, looking back and forth between the boys. Neither story seemed true and yet it seemed that, he, as the older brother, must decide who was in the wrong.

"Beckett didn't fall!" Beckett continued, still sitting on the grass.

"Yes you did! It's 'cause you have a big head, it made you lose your balance-"

Beckett held the offending body part between his hands and scoffed at Myles, "Big head means I'm smart, simple-toon! Like Artemis! He has a big head and he-"

"Okay, okay," Artemis interrupted, before any more head-related insults could be made. "Gentlemen, let us agree to disagree. Myles, you did _not_ push Beckett, and Beckett, you did _not_ fall. Sound good?"

"Fine, but Beckett still hurt," Beckett said, thrusting his hand towards Artemis, his lower lip forming an impressive pout.

Artemis lowered himself until he sat on his heels and inspected Beckett's tiny hand. Across the pink palm was a small red graze, the skin barely broken.

"Kiss it better," Beckett commanded, forcing his hand closer to Artemis' face.

Myles snorted derisively, for a two year old that is, and said, "You're such a baby Beckett. Kissing booboos doesn't make 'em better."

Beckett kicked his legs angrily, tears threatening to begin spouting from his eyes. "Yes it does! Mommy does it, and it works! Artemis, please."

With colourful bandages nowhere in sight, Artemis decided that the only way to satisfy Beckett and end the boys' argument was to follow Beckett's command.

Carefully, Artemis drew his brother's dirty hand toward him. Closing his eyes to ignore all the grime that had most likely accumulated on the unwashed appendage, he whispered a word that only he could hear and quickly kissed Beckett's hand.

Pulling away, Artemis opened his eyes and watched as blue sparks zipped across the wound, healing it instantly. Beckett must have seen too, and gaped at his own hand, holding it up for Myles to see as well.

"Look! I told ya Myles! I told ya!"

Myles grabbed Beckett's hand, flipping it over, looking for something that would explain the healing, then looked up at Artemis, shocked. With a wry smile, Artemis stood up and ruffled the boy's hair. Walking back towards his chair, he called over his shoulder,

"Play nice boys."

Myles watched as his older brother sat back down. He was even weirder than Beckett, and that was saying something.

**As always, reviews and criticism are appreciated. Thank you! **


	2. Odd Couple

**Warning, this next one could be confusing, so pay attention! **

**Across Time and Space**

**2**

They were a strange sight indeed.

No one expected their friendship to blossom, least of all, them. And yet, it became common to see the two friends together, bickering, insulting one another, and occasionally enjoying each other's company.

Though he rarely went out, **she** gladly went home to visit him during her free time, though her other companions discouraged this new found friendship. It was so unlike her, and he was so..._unusual_.

Unlike his other associates, **he** had no plans for her. Their friendship was fragile and he respected her enough to know not to meddle in her ways. Though **she** assisted him on occasion, **he** kept most of his work to himself.

As always, they met on the balcony, just after moonrise.

With an exhausted sigh, Artemis collapsed onto the low couch.

"Hey. Bring me back anything this time?" Artemis' companion inquired, polishing the golden head of an arrow.

Artemis turned. "You are incredibly selfish. Do you ever think of anybody but yourself?"

"Not if I can help it. When you're a limited edition model like me, you gotta take care of yourself. Why worry about other chumps like you, when ya come a dime a dozen? Now, what did ya bring me back from the Hunt?"

Artemis clenched her fists, ignoring her friend's last question and returning to one of the couple's most visited areas of discussion. "That infernal mortal. How dare he name his son after me!"

"And don't forget about that guy's kid." He held up two fingers. "'Artemis two-point-oh.'"

Artemis whirled around to snarl at the young man, her long auburn hair flying. He leaned away from her, ruffling his white wings. With the moon glinting off her silver eyes, it was easy to see why she was called the 'Goddess of the Hunt.' She looked almost wild herself.

"Okay, okay. Sorry. Couldn't help myself," he said, returning to his arrows.

"Well, you would _think_ that after almost 50 years, the joke would get old Eros." Artemis leaned back on the couch and gazed across the heavens, a hand across her forehead.

The cherub snorted. "Hey, you've got it easy girlie. At least your kid's kinda cool. I mean, come on. Look at that brat Athena got stuck with, and _they _got her name wrong."

Artemis' lips twitched as she tried to contain a smile. "Fine, but does he have to be in love with grandchild of yours?"

Eros raised his eyebrows. "You're talking to the God of Love lady; you've got to be a little more specific."

"Holly. Holly Short."

"Riiiiiiiight," Eros said, drawing the word out. "What's so bad about them?"

"Well, it's just a shame," Artemis said. "Holly is such an impressive maiden. I was hoping that one day she might join me on the Hunt. Are you sure you've never..." she looked pointedly at Eros' golden arrows. "Even by mistake?"

Eros shook his head, storing away his bow and arrows as if to prove his innocence. "Nope. I can assure you that those two kids found each other purely by chance. However, if you'd like to give them some encouragement-"

"No!" Artemis nearly shrieked, then, regaining control, "No. I must discourage this relationship at all costs. It is unnatural."

"I don't know what you're getting your toga in a knot for. It's not like Holly has never been involved with a man before. That pretty boy namesake of yours on the other hand...maybe you should ask _him_ to join the Hunt. He's closer to a maiden than she is."

"Eros!"

Eros laughed, his strawberry blonde curls and pot belly bouncing. "You gotta lighten up there sweetie. If you spend all eternity this stressed, you're gonna give yourself ulcers. Look at me, I've been around ages longer than you and I'm cool as a cucumber."

Artemis gave Eros a once over. Unlike other gods, who had the ability to change their form and appear in whatever shape they wanted, Eros was forever doomed to appear as a cherub, that is, a pre-pubescent boy with wings. The only thing to change about Eros over the eons was his voice, which was an unnervingly deep baritone.

"I don't know," Artemis replied slyly. "By the look of you, I'd say you'd graduated primary school."

Eros' retort was swift. "I'm sorry, who's your father? Zeus? Oh yes. I remember him. Alas, despite all my hard work, guy never got the hold of potty training did he?"

Above the gods' heads, thunder rolled threatingly across the night sky, despite the lack of clouds.

For a while, the gods were silent, Artemis contemplating some thought and Eros silently congratulating himself on his latest 'burn.'

Then,

"Are they really in love?"

Eros turned to Artemis, who, to his surprise, actually looked concerned.

"I mean," Artemis continued, still sounding unsure, "will they be happy together, or is this just some teenage infatuation?"

Eros shrugged his shoulders. "You'll have to ask Aphrodite. She's much better at gauging mortal emotions than I am. You know me. I just close my eyes, shoot, and whoever's chest my arrow pierces, it pierces."

Artemis sighed. "Well, if I have to lose such a fair maiden, she'd better be happy. I swear, if that mortal boy breaks her heart, I'll turn him into a chipmunk!"

"Well, you won't have to wait much longer."

"What do you mean?"

Eros pushed himself off the couch and fluttered to the edge of the balcony. From his robes, he pulled a gold pocket watch. He observed it for a moment, considering the seventeen spinning hands.

"Come here," he beckoned Artemis and she quickly joined her friend at the railing. Together they looked out over Olympus and the heavens, and below that: Earth, the realm of mortals.

"The story will begin to unfold in 5 days, and then he'll tell her."

"He will?" Artemis looked almost hopeful.

"Yep," Eros said, and then chuckled softly. "He'll have to go through hell first, but yeah, he'll tell her."

**1000 words exactly (if you don't count the head and footnotes, that is)!**

**Still confused? You might want to brush up on your Greek mythology.**

**As you probably figured out, this scene takes place today, with the release of TAC (in Europe) 5 days away (less in Europe). Alas, being from Canada (which is not in Europe), I'll have to wait even longer to see what happens. So...in the meantime, how's about some reviews? :D **


	3. All For Nothing

**Across Time and Space**

**3**

Despite all he had seen during his time in the LEPrecon, Commander Trouble Kelp was still a sceptic. He believed in the physical, the rational, the tangible, and doubted that which he could not see. Though he, like all law-abiding fairies, wielded the power of magic, Trouble preferred good ol' elbow grease and sweat to blue sparks, potions and magic circles.

However, no matter how hard he tried, Trouble would never be able to completely explain what happened that one morning, shortly after Foaly cracked the Time Tunnel spell.

Eventually, to calm his own conscious, Trouble would attribute the vision to exhaustion. Yes, that was it. He had been working way too hard (as usual) and had simply been overcome with a brief delusion. Though such experiences may not be exactly common, they happened. There was nothing magical, nothing _supernatural_ about it.

He had been sitting at his desk, taking a break from the normal paperwork by going over the latest mission briefings when a quiet rumbling distracted his thoughts.

'Just a Magnabike starting,' his mind rationalized, refusing to investigate the seemingly innocuous sound.

But, despite his unswerving focus, the noise increased in volume, and Trouble's ears twitched, sensing faint words. They seemed to form from the rumbling, like a figure appearing in a cloud of mist, their shape and meaning still indistinct in the distance.

"_I have faith in you..."_

His curiosity breaking free of its reigns, Trouble's mind determined that the voice was a form of Gnommish, crude but refined at the same time.

Though his mind begged to roam and discover more about the voice and who it belonged to, Trouble forced his body to stay still and continue to scan the reports, though, try as he might, he wasn't retaining much information.

"_Where do you want this?" _

Without notice, the voice had changed. The words were much higher pitched now, and for a moment, Trouble swore he was hearing the voice of- no, it couldn't be. Chances were the Mud Boy was long dead.

Accompanying the words, Trouble was startled to feel an oven-hot breeze sail through the office, ruffling the papers on his desk and lifting the end of his ponytail and, for a moment, the scent of ashes.

"What the hell?" he said, his thoughts finally breaking free of his body and making themselves heard.

"_Okay young fellow...was good...impressed. But this is the...spell's breakdown...island to move."_

Like a person trying to find the right station on the radio, the voice came in and out and Trouble caught only snatches of the conversation. Meanwhile, the smell of ashes and hot wind became stronger.

"_An island? And entire island?" _ This voice was somewhere in between the deep rumbling and the pre-pubescent squeaking of before.

"_And everyone on it. No pressure." _

Like the wind and ashes, the voices themselves became clearer and Trouble now found himself leaning forward in his chair, his head cocked as he followed the conversation between the invisible speakers.

"They're talking about Hybras," Trouble whispered, for once allowing himself to be awed by the situation.

The illusion continued to solidify around Trouble, until he could almost see the speakers' desolate surroundings. He saw flashes of red light, flying clouds of ash, and felt the heat of a blood red sun. For a moment, the image of Artemis Fowl II flashed before his eyes, pulling a metal briefcase across the cracked ground.

Trouble shook his head, but the vision stayed fixed before him.

"_Count to three hundred. Maybe two ninety-nine. Providing the deterioration remains constant, which it should," _the ghost Fowl said, still dragging the case.

"_Five minutes and we're going home. Time to start the mantra," _the growling voice replied, and Trouble was startled to realize that it belonged to a demon, one of two, which appeared to be helping Artemis.

Now on his feet, Trouble reverently reached out his hands to the vision, prodding it and trying to grasp something physical among the image. However, it refused to fully materialize, and so Trouble watched as though this was a three dimensional simulation in the training facility, albeit a very grainy and hazy one.

The vision seemed to move away from the duo of demons and the Mud Boy to a single, small figure fighting off a sea of other demons with a Neutrino that seemed to have little to no effect. As the ash cleared, Trouble swallowed anxiously as he realized that the figure was none other than Captain Holly Short.

"_Call off your warriors Abbot. We can talk about this."_

Trouble's heart clenched at the Captain's bravado. Holly was a talented officer, but things were pretty bad. He watched, helpless, as the demons charged down towards Holly, their world literally vanishing from under their feet as they ran.

Holly's Neutrino found little purchase among the roaring crowd and she stepped back, sweat dripping down her temple.

The vision suddenly jerked forward quickly and stopped, like a car screeching to a halt at a red light, throwing the passengers against their seat belts. Now Holly faced a single demon, his long horns glinting in the red light.

"_Hello, elf."_

And with that, sheathed his sword in Holly's chest.

Trouble cried out, reaching desperate fingers toward the vision of Holly, feeling as though he too, had been stabbed. However, the vision's connection was growing weaker, the actions of the demons more blurred and their words scattered.

"_Magic..."_ Holly croaked, blood spilling from her chest wound.

"_Magic cannot help you...working on this sword for...up...enchantment...steel...magic circle."_

Trouble's breath hitched and he shouted, "No!" as the image quickly began to disappear, the mist dispersing.

Then, just as the image of Hybras was gone, Trouble heard a final four words, somehow clearer than the rest, despite the lack of connection. Four words, which would forever haunt Commander Trouble Kelp and result in a lifetime of resentment towards the skinny Mud Man.

"_Artemis. Artemis, help me."_

With that, the vision fully vanished, and Trouble collapsed in his office chair, still breathing heavily. His office seemed deathly quiet and still around him, and cold too, after the heat of Hybras. His skin tingled, as though his nerves were extra sensitive.

"Not real..." Trouble gasped. "Never happened- I'm just seeing things. She's not- Holly's going to be fine."

Thus, Trouble attempted to convince himself that the vision had merely been a delusion brought on by fatigue. For, he knew, if the dream had been reality, the Council was right, and all his work had been for nothing.

**Corresponds with Chapter 16 of 'While You Were Out' which is based on my version of events in TLC. If you're interested, please feel free to take a look. Otherwise, send me some reviews for this piece! **

**Next up in Across Time and Space, something a little badass. **

**P.S. To all my fellow A/H shippers, I apologize for all the H/T stuff I've been writing lately. It pains me too. Also, "dark hair" and "deep purple eyes," Colfer? Really? I try to stay canon, but I will only go so far. **


	4. Fire and Ice

**DANGER: Atlantis Complex SPOILERS! **

**Across Time and Space**

**4**

"Fuck."

Vinyaya spat the word out, along with a mouthful of the thick, slush-like substance, pulling herself up and out of the tunnel and flopping onto the hard surface of the glacier. After a few shallow, scraping breaths, the Wing Commander forced herself up onto her elbows and proceeded to cough and retch violently, her airways clogged with a mixture of ash and slush. Fire and ice.

Exhausted by this minor effort, Vinyaya weakly rolled onto her back, her legs still dangling into the tunnel she had dug, and stared up at the grey Icelandic sky. Interspersed with the standard grey clouds were streaks of black smoke. The shuttle, and the 14 officers inside.

"D'Arvit," Vinyaya swore again and her stomach rolled sickeningly with grief.

Though the elf sincerely wished to remain lying on the glacier, her instincts told her to keep moving. Whatever monster had controlled that probe could still be on the loose.

Over the course of several, painful movements, Vinyaya stood up and, hands on hips, surveyed her surroundings. She was nearly a kilometre from the wreckage. The space probe was gone and the shuttle appeared to have sunk into the ice, the billowing clouds of smoke marking its position. She checked her com set. Nothing. The blast from the shuttle's engine had fried her suit's circuits and she had left her helmet back in the restaurant, which, unfortunately, now lay at the bottom of a crevasse.

Vinyaya shook her head, wincing as the vertebrae in her neck seemed to grind together. The events of the last few hours seemed to blur together like watercolour paints.

She had been making her way up the shuttle's ramp, attempting to warn the crew inside of the approaching enemy probe, when one of the engines must have exploded. Vinyaya remembered Captain Short shouting something at her, but her voice was nothing compared to the roar of the fairy ships. The explosion itself had hit her like a tsunami, the concussive blast tossing her aside, breaking her neck (along other bones) and leaving her discarded on the melting snow at the shuttle's stern.

As the shuttle continued to burn around her, the Wing Commander's magic had gone to work, attempting to repair the damage done by the blast. However, despite running hot, Vinyaya was unable to walk or move away from the inferno and with the ship threatening to collapse on top of her, came up with a plan.

Despite every instinct in her body, Vinyaya stopped the healing. Her neck had been mended enough for her to have feeling again, and while she still sustained several grievous injuries, she knew that soon she would be forced into a magical induced sleep, one that could prove fatal in such a volatile locale. Silver sparks hovered around her finger tips, like soldiers waiting for their next orders.

Focusing all her magic on her heart, Vinyaya raised its beats to a dangerously high rate, and thus began to shield. In an act of pure desperation, the fairy began to dig down into the slush, her vibrating form slowly sinking, as though into quicksand. She took one, gasping breath before her head submerged into the mire, gravity and magic pulling her down and away from the burning shuttle, and into the glacier.

The slush wasn't very deep, and soon Vinyaya was faced with a wall of solid ice, which is not a very welcoming sight when one's lungs are screaming for air. Silently praying to Ares, Vinyaya flicked her Neutrino up to its highest setting and sent a dozen charges into the glacier below, superheating the slush around her and melting it twice as fast. That, along with a well placed kick, punched a neat hole in the glacier, which turned out to be the wall of one of the vast caverns that riddled the compacted mass of ice. Like a goldfish down a toilet, Vinyaya zoomed down through the hole, followed by a stream of slush and landed with a splash on the cavern floor, five metres below.

Spitting slush, Vinyaya crawled along the floor of the ice cave, which, luckily, slanted upward, so that the flow of melted snow was contained to one area. Shielding had warmed her slightly, but now she shook with cold and despite being on solid ground (relatively) kept her heart rate up in order to keep her core temperature up. Barring this, Vinyaya allowed a few trickles of magic to return to their job of healing while she focused most of her physical energy on dragging herself towards safety, wherever that was.

After what seemed like an eternity of crawling through the frigid cave, Vinyaya collapsed, releasing all the magic she had been holding back with an exhaled breath. The cold hit her like a slap across the face and her chest ached, lungs filled with frosty air. Just before she lost consciousness, Vinyaya remembered wishing that, whatever else her magic did; it kept her from going hypothermic and dying in her sleep. The irony was just too much to bear.

Waking an undetermined amount of time later, Vinyaya found herself not only alive and well, but fully drained of magic. She drank from a nearby glacial stream before making her way back to the surface, a task which, despite being healed, was almost as difficult as the descent.

Now on the surface, Vinyaya made her way over to the wreckage of the restaurant and the shuttle. Still unsteady on her feet, the Wing Commander stared down into the crevasse from above. Despite being burnt and twisted almost beyond recognition, Vinyaya saw that the shuttle was missing its escape pod. She smiled weakly. They had a chance. Now all she needed was one of her own.

Stepping away from the edge, Vinyaya raised a hand to run through her silver hair and was surprised when it came back, dragging chunks of blackened strands, removed from her scalp by the gentle tugging. For a few silent moments, the Wing Commander stared at the hair in her hand, halfway between furious and heartbroken. Vinyaya was not a vain woman, or, at least, not as vain as Corporal Frond, but among other fairies, her silver hair was a distinguishing feature and one she couldn't help but be a little proud of.

Dropping the chunk of hair onto the snow, Raine Vinyaya couldn't help but utter a single word before pulling her sopping hood over her head and stalking down to the destroyed restaurant, hoping to find her helmet among the tacky decorations and badly painted murals and contact the LEP for a pickup.

"Fuck."

**Okay, so not as badass as I originally planned it, but hopefully still believable. However, I do enjoy that the dialogue (3 words, total) is completely composed of profanities, both Gnommish and English. **

**Now here's the deal. You guys send me 8+ reviews and I'll post the next instalment of ATAS, one which is sure to please the A/H fans. Muahahaha... **

**P.S. If Holly is allowed to have amber sparks as she 'gets older,' why can't Vinyaya have silver sparks? **


	5. Size Does Matter

**Across Time and Space**

**5**

"I'm not scared of you."

"I know."

"Does that bother you?"

Artemis looked up from his book, silently contemplating Holly. It was late afternoon, and the dying sunlight was passing through the library's stained glass window, throwing fantastic colours and designs onto the smooth wooden floor. Motes of dust floated lazily through the air, ferried along by Artemis and Holly's exhaled breaths towards unknown destinations. Towering bookshelves with thousands of books buffered the noise of the party below, allowing Artemis to forget the family obligations he had been neglecting by hiding up here.

Artemis chuckled softly, sending more dust motes flying and closing his book. "No, should it?"

"You think it would," Holly said, leaning forward on the divan she occupied across the room. For just a moment, the sunlight caught the edge of Holly's hair, highlighting the auburn with golden streaks as she moved into the light's swath.

"Why would you assume such a thing Captain Short?"

"Because you're a control freak, and I'm the only person you can't boss around."

Artemis laughed again, but with false confidence. "On the contrary Holly, I believe that research into our history will show that I have, on many occasions, used and manipulated both you, and your position within the LEP, to obtain what I want."

"But you can't anymore," Holly parried his response almost casually.

"Can't, or won't?"

"_Can't_," Holly answered. "But that's beside the point."

"Then, _please_," Artemis said sardonically, "do get to 'the point.'"

"The point is...that you scare everyone into respecting you, into giving you the things you want. You don't actually _do_ anything; you just scare them with your potential, with the possibility of what you _could_ do."

"That's absurd," Artemis said, reclining back on the bay window seat and staring at the tome in his hands.

"No," Holly continued, "I'm right. Foaly, Mulch, Commander Kelp, Minerva, your parents, even Butler. They're all scared of what you'll do next, whether it means the destruction of fairy civilization, or just leaving them forever."

Artemis' ears perked at the last bit. "And _you're_ not scared that I'll leave you forever?"

"Gods, no," she laughed. "You're a human. No point in worrying about the inevitable, eh?"

Artemis stood, and his shadow overtook the room, nearly blocking out the light from the window. "So that's why you're not scared of me? Because I'm a _mortal man_?" He said the last two words through his teeth, as though they were a forbidden curse.

Holly met Artemis in the middle of the room. "Don't look so hurt Mud Boy. You may be a genius, but the People still have light-years on you."

Artemis glowered down at the diminutive fairy, her hands on her hips, and chin thrust up towards him in an act of defiance. Had Butler been in the room, he might have warned Holly not to test Artemis further, noticing the slight tension in his neck and the clenching of his thin hands. However, the giant man was currently pacing the hallway outside the door, assuring no wandering party guests strayed into the Fowl manor library and interrupted his master's 'studies.'

"You should be scared of me." He said it so quietly, had anyone other than an elf been in the room, they wouldn't have heard it.

"Quit it, Artemis. Villainy doesn't suit you."

Artemis jerked his head, and Holly swore his eyes flashed, blue and hazel, despite the library's lack of light. "It used too."

In one, swift, adrenalin-fuelled motion, Artemis took Holly by the shoulders and threw her back onto the divan. She landed with a surprised, "Ow!" and tried to sit up, already uttering death threats. However, in an equally smooth motion, he was there, crouching over Holly, pinning her down, like a butterfly stuck to a corkboard.

"D'arvit!" Holly cursed and squirmed, trying to free herself, but she couldn't move. Artemis was forcing her torso into the divan, holding her down at the shoulders. To keep her dangerous legs, and feet, away from his more _sensitive_ areas, Artemis pinned her two legs with one of his. His other leg extended off the low divan, propping him up so that he could still tower over the fairy, despite their reclined position.

"Let. Me. Go!" Holly growled, punctuating each word with a twist or squirm and glaring up at the human.

Artemis smiled wickedly and for a second, Holly felt a twinge of fear in her stomach, and though she fought to hide it, the genius caught the slight change in Holly's expression. Leaning down towards the elf, Artemis whispered,

"You've always suspected it. I know you have. That it was all too good to be true. That one day I would see that charity and friendship and humanitarianism were worthless and go back to my old ways. That, once again, you would be powerless to stop me."

"What are you talking about?" Holly whispered back fervently, hissing on every consonant. Slowly, she reached her hand down her side, fingers reaching for her Neutrino.

Without taking his eyes from Holly's, one of Artemis' hands shot out of grabbed Holly's wrist, twisting it and holding it up beside her head. He laughed softly to himself and shifted on the divan so that there were only centimetres between their two bodies.

"There's one thing that you seem to forget Holly," he began, his voice silky. "Despite all the fairy technology you and your comrades possess, there is still one advantage that we lowly Mud People hold."

Holly didn't inquire as to the human advantage, her fiery glare never wavering.

Tilting his head to the side, Artemis lowered himself so that his mouth was right beside Holly's neck and ear. Speaking directly into her ear, so that his thin lips occasionally brushed Holly's skin and sent chills racing down her spine, the genius spoke.

"You mustn't forget, little fairy, just how much _bigger_ we are than you."

Holly's eyes shot to the side, staring with confusion at the back of Artemis' head, and was about to make a biting retort, when she caught her breath. Leaning back slightly, Artemis was lightly drawing a finger around Holly's ear, tracing the shape, allowing his finger to dip onto her neck as the lobe returned to her head.

"It would be so easy," he said, still whispering, but his voice had lost the harshness of before. It sounded almost...whimsical, dreamy. His finger continued its journey down, lingering on her exposed jugular before stopping at the collar of her Recon suit, his nimble fingers toying with the zipper pull.

"What, Mud Boy?"

"Taking you," he stated simply. "I am a human, you know. And a man at that. Practically a savage, by your standards. And although you and Commander Kelp have your little jokes about my supposed sexuality issues, trust me Captain...I _so_ want to."

For a moment, Holly's expression seemed to soften as she looked at the human, and she spoke.

"Okay."

Artemis' eyebrows shot up onto his forehead and his voice lost all of its smoothness. "Really?" he squeaked.

"Yeah," Holly said, and this time it was her turn to adopt a seductive tone, although one that was slightly..._enhanced_. "Why not? We're both adults...well, mostly. And we're alone."

"R-right now?" Artemis stuttered, his mind suddenly fuzzy, though he wrongly blamed hormones for that. His palms were sweaty and he quickly removed one from Holly's shoulder to hastily wipe on his slacks.

"No time like the present," Holly quipped, and, quick as a viper, grabbed Artemis' belt buckle, holding it in her tiny fist. Artemis gulped, his Adam's apple jumping.

Pushing herself up with her other free hand, Holly brushed her nose against Artemis', their matching gazes trained on each other, though the growing gloom made it difficult to continue the connection.

"H-h-holly," Artemis continued to stutter. "I-I don't think I'm..." he blushed on the last word "Ready."

"Well, as you and your _gigantic_, _savage_, human buddies say, 'No _duh'_." Holly said and flipped Artemis off the divan and onto the library floor below where he landed with an, 'Oof.'

Jumping off the divan, Holly stepped over the prone human, and had her hair reached past her ears, would have flipped it over her shoulder dismissively. She was about to sneak out the library door into the hallway, when she turned to look at Artemis, wearing the boy's own vampire smile.

"Oh, and on the contrary Mud Boy, I think that perhaps it is _you_ that should be scared of me, not the other way around. Keep that in mind for next time."

Artemis scrambled to get to his feet, slipping on the smooth wood and wincing at what was sure to be a bruised hip, finally getting to his feet just as Holly's swaying backside disappeared into the hallway. Breathing in deeply and rubbing his temples, he tried to clear his head, the last waves of _Mesmer_ disappearing. Suddenly, his eyes snapped open and he gasped, speaking to the empty room,

"Wait- what do you mean 'next time'?"

**Bahahahahaha. You thought it was going to be fluffy, didn't you? **

**Okay, so I just watched the interview with Colfer from the Guardian concerning the 8****th**** book (link can be found on AF FanGathering, TAC spoilers) and am **_**pissed**_**. If you watch it, you'll soon know why, and are free to join my army of home-made Neutrino wielding fangirls. Meetings are every Tuesday at 6pm in my basement. Bring snacks. And reviews. **


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